Sunday, July 15, 2007

U.S. cuts Pan Am roster to 14 heading into Brazil trip

If Wright were selecting the team for himself then he might not have chosen five big men. But, since this is a committee decision, the group went with putting together a team that reflected how they played over five practices at Haverford College from Thursday through Saturday as well as projecting how they may play in an international competition against potential pros from Brazil and Argentina.

The five big men that made it were Hibbert, White, Gist, Dorsey and Leunen. Hibbert and White are considered more traditional low-post scorers while Dorsey would potentially give the U.S. a physical presence on the boards. Gist is more of a tweener in this group while Leunen proved to be the best face-up forward of those trying out.

This meant that Washington's Jon Brockman, Wisconsin's Brian Butch, N.C. State's Brandon Costner, Alabama's Richard Hendrix, LSU's Tasmin Mitchell and Saint Joseph's Ahmad Nivins didn't make the cut. Butch and Brockman were said to have had their best practices of the five on Saturday but that didn't do enough in the decision process, according to multiple sources. Costner played well on day one but wasn't able to differentiate himself the rest of the weekend.The rest can be read here.

Note- this isn't official (yet).

It looks like Hendrix and Gee aren't going to make the cut. Well, at least CMG gets the opportunity to be there. The biggest ommision to me is Chris Lofton. I figured he'd be a shoo-in.